Marvel's Empyre: The Character Assasination of an Entire Alien Species

[GreyICE]

Getting angry at you is definitely silly, because it's fair criticism, and sounds pretty accurate. The Cotati are definitely coded as native/mystic/shaman sorts, and making them the bad guys, and the good guys a fascist empire and a conquering, genocidal horde is all sorts of wrong. It's like some sort of historical fiction where the USSR and Nazi Germany stop warring and team up to fight the secret Jewish empire - both horribly offensive, and a "wait, THOSE are the good guys" moment.

You're not the only one who sees it, and you're not making a huge leap. I'm sad to say this happens way too often with DC/Marvel. It's a combination of "the status quo is god", the revolving heel/face door for various factions, their weird way of hitting reset buttons, and the fact that the editorial team is basically the cast from the comedy skit "the whitest guys you know." One of the reasons I'm generally so myopic about what I read in these lines is it's about the only way I can enjoy them. Otherwise I'd have to be completely done with Marvel and DC - and for too many artists and writers I respect and admire, they're one of the few ways to pay the bills.

Well... then at least I'm not the only person who sees the problem. I'm glad that this isn't completely unnoticed.

I still wish there was a way to explain this to fans and make them see the problems somehow. I haven't been able to engage with anyone on this subject without them acting like I'm overreacting.

Honestly most comic fans left who identify as fans are drinking the Kool Aid. As I said, this isn't the first time that either company has done this. And worse, as the various sexual harassment allegations have revealed - as bad as anything fictional might be, it pales in comparison to harassing women in real life. It's less broken stairs and more a broken stairwell over there.

In the case of marvel fans, it's like which shitty event do you want to defend? Civil War, where they start things off by killing a random black superhero (and where the faction enslaving people with head chips won)? Inhumans vs X-Men, where the message was "boy mutants are sure pissy about the Inhumans committing genocide"? Ultimatum, with its fascinating "incest is cool" message and general screaming insanity? Civil War 2 with it's...

okay, I can't even parse the message of Civil War 2 without just getting a headache. Everyone involved seemed to be taking idiot pills by the handful. I've never seen a comic series forget they killed a character midway through and everyone just rolled with her still being alive (not that I wanted She-Hulk to die, but still).

Look, what I'm saying is that if you run into someone who is still on board with this shit, you probably met someone who either doesn't read comics, or who has the logical reasoning skills of a potato. The rest of us hear "crossover event" and instinctively activate the gag reflex. Is it racist and semi-nonsensical? Well, if it's not I'm sure the editorial board can fix it somehow!

[Rodan56]

Well that's a fairly cynical take... but I'm not in a position to really argue with it right now.

I will say it's best not get me started on Civil War 2 unless you want me to talk your ear off over why I'm probably the only one who supported Carol Danvers' side throughout that event and still does, mostly because of how she's treated in story, by Marvel's editorial team, the writer of the event and the fans themselves.